Dearham Primary School

About Dearham Primary School

Dearham Primary School in Cumberland was rated Good in its most recent Ofsted inspection in 2025, a change from its previous Outstanding rating in 2012. The inspection judged all key areas — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, early years provision, and leadership and management — as Good. On the most telling academic metric, the school’s Key Stage 2 combined reading, writing and maths expected standard attainment sits at 45%, which is below the Cumberland local authority average of 54%. Just 3% of pupils reached the higher standard in all three subjects. The school ranks 79th out of 111 primary schools in Cumberland, placing it in the bottom half of the local authority. Nationally, it sits in the 85th percentile, meaning roughly 85% of schools outperform it on this measure.

Looking more closely at the 2023/24 KS2 results, reading and writing show stronger individual performance than maths. 68% of pupils met the expected standard in reading and 74% in writing, while maths lagged at 61%. Average scaled scores were 103 for reading and 102 for maths. Higher-standard attainment was strongest in reading at 23%, followed by writing at 19% and maths at 6%. The school has no published progress scores for reading, writing or maths, so it’s not possible to see how much value the school adds relative to pupils’ starting points. Parent feedback is broadly positive — 91% of respondents would recommend the school, and 90% agreed or strongly agreed that their child is happy there. However, only 62% agreed that concerns are dealt with properly, and 31% disagreed that SEND children receive the support they need.

The school has capacity for 271 pupils but currently enrols 223, and it was oversubscribed for 2025/26 entry with 37 applications for 24 places, including 23 first-preference offers. It offers a nursery provision for children from age three. Facilities include an ICT suite, art studios, music rooms, a sensory room and an outdoor playground. Sports on offer range from football and netball to gymnastics and cross country, and clubs include book club, coding and film club. SEND provisions cover a wide range of needs including dyslexia, moderate learning difficulty, social and emotional mental health, speech and language communication, visual impairment, and autistic spectrum disorder. This is a school that suits families who value a broad range of activities and a strong pastoral focus, but who may want to investigate the SEND support and academic outcomes more closely before committing.

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